New Bedford Half Marathon was today in scenic New Bedford, MA along the atlantic ocean. The windy Atlantic ocean. You can see the results on coolrunning. Very diverse race with two Ethiopians and a guy from Vermont I couldn't recognize mixed in the usual suspects from the New England running scene. I was initially very happy with the result and how I felt during the race and they way everything came out of the wash. The more I think about it though, the worse I feel. I definitely should have taken more risks today. With 100 miles under my belt for the week already I wasn't in a risk taking mood fearing the bonk or what ia hard hard effort would do to the rest of my Boston Marathon prep. Soooooo, I played it really safe today. Super safe. The more I think about it, waaaaaayyyyy too safe. Here is how it shook out from my perspective.
The first mile felt like a jog. It was down hill with a little head wind. There was a lead pack of about 75 guys at that pace for the start of a big race like New Bedford. A guy with a shaved head (which must have been cold in the wind) from Toronto AC took off after feeling the pace was too pedestrian and the race started. From there the group didn't really pay much interest because the second mile was the same and then the two Ethiopians decided enough was enough and bridged the gap. This move made everyone take notice and pace picked up accordingly to not just let the westchester NY guys run away with it. The jumped the gap pretty quickly and the chase pack was responding with a 5:10 to keep it close to about a telephone pole gap. This is where I made my fatal miscalculation in being able to be in position to match the winning move. From 4 to 8 is down hill with a slight tailwind. I thought that I could pick up the pace enough to ground swell the lead pack with the chase pack. The three leaders picked it up more than we did and I was scared, there's that word again, to push it much below 5:00 pace in fear of tearing a head gasket or pushing a piston through the block. Safe or Cowardly, call it what you want. At the time I called it safe but as I reflect it feels more cowardly. Anyways, they were gaining about 3-4 seconds per mile and then at 6 miles the eventual winner from Ethiopa took off on the lead pack and that was all she wrote. The lead car went out of site and the chase group which was paired down from surges by myself, terry, matt, and some others was out the chase to win and had to be content to go for 2nd on down. When we hit the seawall matt, terry and I found a good working pace and started to gain on the guy from Vermont AC the other Westchester Ethiopian. I had a feeling they were going to be toast because everyone in the group looked strong and I have been throttled by terry before over the last 4 miles of this race. We did a great job together through about 10 and then our coalition started to fracture. I felt great so I just pushed on ahead hoping they could stay through the tough wind from 10- 11.5 but I lost them somewhere in there. At the same time I bridged the gap to the 2nd and third spots. I hung around with them until I caught my wind and decided to lead them steadily building to the bottom of the hill at 12 and the unleash my final move. I had a lot of confidence in my kick based on the 200m workout thursday but the two people I was racing with were unknowns. I figured, just take it up the hill, the strength is there, and if they stay with you there is no way there tired kick is as good as yours so go now. I was a touch worried because the ethiopian stayed with me up the hill about 3/4 of the way then I grabbed a second on him. As soon as I felt that small gap I nailed the throttle and put six more on him the last 800m. Second place was nice but if i had a little more attitude I could have had a big PR today. I am just happy that all the work I have been putting gave a positive result. 5 more weeks until Boston will give me 3 more weeks of solid training and 2 weeks of easy does it.
Here is the data from my watch.
1. 5.23
2. 5.22 - 10.45
3. 5.10 - 15.55
4. 5.16 - 21.12
5. 4.59 - 26.12
6. 5.04 - 31.16
7. 4.58 - 36.15
8. 4.56 - 41.11
9. 5.13 - 46.25
10. 5.21- 51.46
11. 5.22 - 57.09
12. 5.12 - 1.02.22
13.1 5.44 - 1.08.07
Here is the weeks training.
Monday 10
Training Run 11:15:00 AM - 7.20 mi @ 55:25 (7:41 pace)
Training Run 5:00:00 PM - 7.00 mi @ 53:42 (7:40 pace)
Tuesday 11
Training Run 11:50:00 AM - 5.00 mi @ 36:17 (7:15 pace)
Running Workout 7:00:00 PM - Aerobic Capacity Intervals - - 9.00 mi @ 45:45.00 (5:05 pace)
Wednesday 12
Training Run 6:20:00 AM - 6.40 mi @ 50:09 (7:50 pace)
Training Run 11:30:00 AM - 7.40 mi @ 53:17 (7:12 pace)
Thursday 13
Training Run 9:00:00 AM - 10.00 mi @ 1:10:45 (7:04 pace)
Running Workout 5:00:00 PM - Anaerobic Capacity Intervals - - 0.75 mi @ 3:15.00 (4:20 pace) 6 x 200 34 working down to 31.
Friday 14
Training Run 7:00:00 AM - 5.00 mi @ 34:53 (6:58 pace)
Training Run 5:30:00 PM - 9.67 mi @ 1:08:10 (7:02 pace)
Saturday 15
Training Run 9:30:00 AM - 7.53 mi @ 52:11 (6:55 pace)
Training Run 5:00:00 PM - 5.00 mi @ 34:24 (6:52 pace)
Sunday 16
Running Competition 11:00:00 AM - New Bedford Half Marathon (Road Race) Half Marathon @ 1:08:07.00 (5:11 pace) Place: 2
Training Run 4:15:00 PM - 4.50 mi @ 30:40 (6:48 pace)
TOTALS
Running: 113.75 mi
I stole this subprime loan primer from Flash Gordon's log and it is hilarious.
I have also made it so you have to approved by me to get a comment on. Apparently I have trouble getting aroused, need to meet women, and have a small unit based on the amount of spam I have been getting lately. Please do comment though I will approve almost anybody as long as they are not trying to sell me a blue pill from an eastern bloc county.
Sorry about the rambling of this entry and all the mistakes but I wanted to do one detailed entry during this build up because I have been posting some pretty boring crap.
That's all I got.